Comelec chief Garcia: SC decision won’t affect October BSKE

The Supreme Court’s decision on the law that postponed the holding of the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections from December 5, 2022, to the last Monday of October 2023 won’t affect the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) preparations.

“Bagama’t unconstitutional ang sabi po ng ating kagalang-galang na Korte Suprema, at least po naging maliwanag po sa Comelec na patuloy po ang aming paghahanda at tuloy na tuloy po ang ating barangay and SK election ngayong October 30 ng taon na ito,” Comelec chairperson George Garcia said in an interview on Balitanghali on Wednesday.

(While the Supreme Court declared the law as unconstitutional, it is now clear with the Comelec that we should push through with the Barangay and SK Elections on October 30 this year.)

On Tuesday, the SC released the decision which declared the law on the BSKE postponement unconstitutional. However, the high tribunal said the October 30, 2023 polls should push through, pursuant to the operative fact doctrine.

With the SC decision, Garcia also said the Comelec will be mandated to hold another BSKE in 2025 as barangay and SK officials who will be elected this year will only be allowed to serve for two years.

“Lalabas po sa 2025, dalawang eleksyon ang Comelec ang national ang local election at the same time ‘yung ating BSKE. Katulad sa nasabi kanina magiging maiksi ang termino ng barangay and SK officials na mahahalal sa October 30,” he said.

(With that, there will be two elections which will be conducted by the Comelec—the National and Local Elections and at the same time the BSKE. The terms of the Barangay and SK officials who will be elected this year will be shorter.)

“Hopefully, maging maliwanag din sa amin, kung mabibigyan kami ng tamang budget, kung pwede namin ma-automate na ang barangay and SK elections sa 2025,” he added.

(We hope that it would be clear to the Comelec if we can now automate the BSKE in 2025.)

‘Reasons valid’

Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos, the sponsor of the law postponing the December 2022 BSKE in the Senate, said she respects the decision of the high tribunal but she maintained that the reasons for the postponement which were esoused during the debates and hearings remain valid.

“The present barangay and SK officials need sufficient time to implement their programs which have been sidetracked by the pandemic. Furthermore, it is high time that the term of barangay and SK officials be extended. We must keep in mind that barangay and SK officials are often tasked to implement not only their own programs and projects but also those of the local and national government,” Marcos,  chairperson of the  Senate electoral reforms, said.

Marcos stressed the need to pass a bill which will extend the term of barangay and SK officials.

This, she said, will help the government save funds as elections are “costly.”

“The government will save tens of billions by extending the terms of barangay and SK officials,” Marcos said.

Further, she raised the issue of holding the BSKE in the same year as the national and local elections.

She noted the position of then-Comelec Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr.--who is the ponente of the present Supreme Court decision in a hearing held last September 2019 regarding the postponement of the BSKE from May 2020 to October 2022, where the latter stated the poll body prefers that the barangay and national elections should not be on the same year as the national elections.

“Comelec manifested that the barangay and SK elections should be held either a year before or a year after the national elections so that the Commission will have sufficient time to prepare. Thus, by having the elections in 2023 instead of 2022, we would have avoided the situation where there will be two nation-wide elections in a single year,” she said.

On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who voted against the measure postponing the December 2022 BSKE, welcomed the SC decision, saying this validated his point that there was no compelling reason to delay the village polls.

“The postponement, without any compelling reason, undermined the constitutional rights of suffrage and weakens the foundation of our democratic institutions,” said Pimentel.

"The Barangay and SK elections would have been a very good opportunity to conduct a referendum on the performance of the incumbent, especially in relation to their handling of the pandemic response," he added.

With the Supreme Court's ruling, Pimentel said a significant milestone has been achieved in safeguarding the democratic processes as he lamented how the postponement deprived a whole generation of potentially-capable Filipino youth the chance to lead their sectors through the SK system.

“This ruling by the Supreme Court will effectively prevent the recurring practice of postponing the barangay and SK elections to the detriment of the Filipino people and our democratic processes,” Pimentel said.

Since 2016, the barangay and SK polls have been repeatedly postponed.

The October 2016 barangay and SK polls were postponed to October 2017. From there, it was postponed to May 2018, which was again reset to December 2022. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News